Where's it gone?

Hello,

Well everything is starting to melt now as we kiss goodbye to the winter season, the Seals have started to give birth and Antarctica is coming back to life!

We are currently under the hole in the O-Zone layer so have to put sun block on as a matter of course every morning and wear our shades outside as it gets pretty blinding when the sun bounces off the snow. I have just over a month to go here now which just seems unbeleivable as it seemed like it would never come to an end, especialy during those dark and miserable days of the winter! I have no doubt I'll miss the quietness and clean crisp air but am looking forward to seeing different faces again as it starts to wear a bit thin when you see the same 20 people everyday for so many months! The atmosphere is so dry here that my skin has suffered and is extremely dry and the lack of sun in the winter means the body doesn't produce Melatonin (the protective oily stuff that makes up the top layer of skin) but that will get back to normal when I get back I'm told. We have had no fresh fruit or veg for the last 6 months and I can't tell you how much that is missed by everyone but I'm sure if you could get a market stall down here you'd make an absolute killing!

I'll be seeing you all very soon so bye for now,

Gray.

What a Sky!

Just a few pics of an incredible sky!

I hope you like?

Winter's Here!!

Hello everyone,

Just a quick post to let you know how it's going here.

Over the last month the weather has turned very cold and slightly intimidating with winds picking up to 80-90mph and snow drifts of over 3metres in one day!! It's extremely difficult to walk anywhere as you sink in even with snow shoes on! We have a secret weapon called the '456' though and it takes no prisoners when snow clearing is concerned. It weighs in at a poultry 19 tons and just one snow chain alone weighs the same as two of me or one fat American!! There's a snow blowing attatchement that fits to the front and is extremely effective in making road ways which is just as well eh? We are losing around 27mins of sun everyday now and it rarely rises above the horizon so is dark mostly which can get a bit depressing! It won't be long after midwinter til it's back again though so is not too bad (midwinters day 21st june).

My brother Ed and his wife Naomi have just given birth to a bouncing baby boy weighing in at 7lb 15oz so I'd just like to say how proud I am of them both and know they will make great parents. My love to the little man x and my love to the baby and Naomi xx

Well that's it for now so I shall go and eat some 4 years out of date Cornflakes for my breakfast and feel Grrrrrrrrrrreat for the rest of the day (we don't have any Frosties).

Bye for now everyone,

Gray.

Manhaul trip !

Hey everyone,

I've just got back from a week long manhaul trip to a part of the island that can't be accessed by ski-doo as there are too many crevasse's and the snow bridges that span them can't support the weight of a machine. My sledge weighed in at 102kg plus my rescue items on my harness that had to carried at all times! We managed to summit four of the peaks in that area, the first one 'Sighing Peak' has only ever had three parties on record that have topped her! We covered over 40 miles in the two towing days and I lost 5kg in all so happy days there!

I hope all's well with everyone back home and the sun has come out to play more than last year?

Bye for now,

Gray.

Hello everyone.

Hi to you all back in sunny Blighty.

It's been a while since I've put anything on the blog so I thought I'd make an effort and get writing. There's been quite a lot happening out here as far as work's concerned and have been out in deep field quite a lot constructing "Melon" huts and an underground garage built into snow with a blue ice floor which was interesting and fu***ng freezing at the same time. I guess that's the nature of the beast down here?

I hope all's going well back home with everyone?

I broke my rib a couple of weeks ago which was a pain in the ass as far as getting out climbing or skiing is concerned but it's slowly healing so I should be back at it soon enough.

I will be making more of an effort as far as this blog is concerned as the time is going extremely fast and would be a shame to miss the chance to record it.

Hope you like the pics.

Gray

They remind me of Joey!

I had to go to a place called Leone Island today to take down an old emergency hut and as we had a few hours I thought I'd go and sit with the locals and discuss a few things. As you can imagine they didn't have much to say but they do come across as such placid creatures and when I took the pics would only have been about five feet away! Maybe it's because they're so enormous and haven't got the energy or because they don't have many predators that they don't seem to care? I'm not sure but then I don't think it matters when you can get pics like this. There is a Crab eater (the one with the side profile/ teeth out), a couple of Weddel's (cute one and one with 15 chins) and an Elephant seal (the big ugly one).

Enjoy.

Flying High!

Hey there everyone,

I've been out for 4 flights so far since I've arrived and have all been pretty spectacular if not for the views for the fact that the pilots do lots of low level stuff and fly up through glaciers and around peaks etc.. which makes for some very twitchy moments although they're all extremely experienced so I'm sure I'm in safe hands.

I've also been out on the seas on little RIB's which is an absolute hoot too as you can get some amazing pics if your hands stay warm enough to move!

I'm missing everyone back home but am sure that I'll be back before I know it and after a couple of weeks will be back to normal and working etc etc..

I hope everyone's ok and not too hung over from xmas and new year and that santa delivered the correct pressies.

Cheers me dears.

Gray.

piccies

Hellooooo

Hello everyone,Just a quick message from down south. Everything's going pretty well over here and have already done so many things and none of them seem to include any work yet which is nice. I flew down to a place called Sky Blu yesterday which is about as far south as i'll get while i'm here and it's a very very cold place with just a sea of snow all around. I managed to get some pics of penguins that i'll attatch to this along with a few more of various other things. I can go skiing anytime i like literally as it's 24hr daylight at the mo and they provide the skidoo's for that too! it seems as though money is no object here as far as recreation is concerned. Anyway i hope all is well back home and everyone's ready for chrimbo? All the best from Antarctic Gray.